A mobile device manufacturer will frequently provide the same type of device to service providers such as network operators and carriers. The devices are personalized or otherwise customized for each service provider, which can for example include personalizing mobile devices to so that they can only be used with that particular service provider.
The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has generated technical specifications in respect of personalization of Mobile Equipment (ME), as set out for example in 3GPP TS 22.022 version 11.0.0 Release 11. The personalization of ME (MEP) standard provides specifications for various personalization categories including: service provider personalization, network personalization, network subset personalization, corporate personalization, and SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) or USIM (User Services Identity Module, the equivalent of the SIM card for 3G UMTS mobile devices) personalization. Any combination of these personalization categories may be activated or deactivated on a mobile device as they operate independently of each other, and any one personalization category may have more than one personalization code configured (e.g. configuring a mobile device to be operable on more than one service provider's network). Some codes require other codes to be activated as well, defining a code group. For instance, service provider personalization requires activation of both service provider and network codes.
The use of a mobile device is limited based on the activated personalization categories, the personalization codes of which are compared against values stored on the inserted SIM/USIM card whenever the mobile device is powered on or a SIM/USIM is inserted. If the check fails, the mobile device is placed into a limited service mode in which only emergency calls are possible. If a match is found with any of the code groups stored in the mobile device, the check is passed for that category and the mobile device enters normal operation, albeit restricted in its use to a personalization policy determined by the activated personalization codes (e.g. the mobile device may only be operable in normal operation mode on the network of service provider “C”).